Day 8 - Return to Chang Sha

I am beginning to feel like I belong here. Of course I do, as Marg puts it, look like an Amazon amongst these women. When I walk down the street alone, people come up to me and measure themselves as discretely as they can, against me. It is not intimidating though. I feel quite safe and have found all of my interactions with the Chinese people to be pleasant.

Our drive back from Chen Zhou was considerably quicker than the drive there, even with the overturned cement truck on the highway. I guess I am getting used to the perma-smog and the shells of houses that people live in because as I gazed out the window during the four and a half hour drive I saw much more beauty than I saw before. There were people out working their tiny plots of land, cohabitating with the cattle and oxen. The rice paddies were often filled with white ducks and the odd pig and dog stood serenely. It was pastoral in a hazy sort of crowded way.

Upon return to Chang Sha I made a visit to the pharmacy with our guide in tow. I brought the medicine I needed to refill, but the drug was not in my interpreters lexicon and no amount of charades could explain it. We were just about to give up when the pharmacist brought out the Chinese version of the pharmacology handbook. Fortunately each drug was also spelled out in English and after much page flipping a persistence we found it. Smiles of relief were everywhere. It turned out that the drug must be prescribed by the hospital but after the determination to find it the pharmacist decided that since I was a foreigner he could give it to me anyway. Phew!

I then went on a walk alone down the streets of Chang Sha to look in shop windows and feel a part of daily life. The smells coming from the carts filled with "snacks" was mouth watering. Crossing the street was an adventure as pedestrians do not have right of way and no one stops at signals anyway. I did make it eventually. I went into a couple of book stores but was unable to find anything I wanted to buy. I did find a Chinese English book that explained common phrases like what to say if you walk in the ladies washroom by accident or if you bump into someone "Get out of my way - you jerk". I couldn't help but laugh, but decided to put the book down as I was attracting attention to myself. The thing that impressed me most about the bookstore was all of the people sitting everywhere reading, reading, reading. On my walk back I stopped into a couple of small shops to buy little things. The young shop keepers were delighted to practise their English on me. I was greatly relieved that some of the prices they quoted me were in fact, lost in translation!! Thank goodness for calculators.

We are off for another test of Szechwaun. I am hoping that both Marg and I fare better this time!!